The Fruit of the Spirit (4/9) – Longsuffering
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."
1 Peter 2:23
"Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously."
Proverbs 15:18
"A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention."
Proverbs 19:11
"The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.
The Lord Jesus once said that we are destined to bear fruit. Our goal in life should, therefore, be to bear lasting fruit that is so valuable to God.
Ultimately, fruit means reflecting the characteristics of the Lord Jesus. When He is seen in us, God is glorified.
In this series, we want to reflect on the individual fruits that the Holy SpiritThe Holy Spirit is God, a divine person in the Trinity of God; in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit works, for example, in creation or on individuals. The Holy... More wants to work in our lives. And since our Lord is always the perfect role model (cf. Mt 11:29; Jn 13:15; 1 Pet 2:21), we will look directly at incidents from His life where these characteristics become visible.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is … longsuffering ..."
The Greek term for longsuffering literally means "long passion," which means that it would take a long time to give free rein to one's emotions. Longsuffering is, therefore, characterized by patiently enduring something. This can refer both to perseverance in difficult circumstances and to forbearance when facing attacks from others.
Some verses in Proverbs show the whole spectrum of meaning of this characteristic: in Proverbs 15:18, a longsuffering person is contrasted with an angry person; Proverbs 19:11 equates longsuffering with "overlooking" wrongdoing; Proverbs 25:15 with a mild response. A longsuffering person can accept an insult or unjust insinuation without firing back (2 Sam 16:11, 12). He does not show short-sightedness.
Examples of longsuffering from the life of the Lord that we can learn from:
- The Lord showed infinite patience with Judas Iscariot, who followed Him as a hypocrite for three years.
- The Lord foretold His suffering to the disciples several times, although they never understood it (e.g., Mk 9:31, 32).
- The Lord asked the disciples on the road to Emmaus questions and listened patiently for a long time, even though their answers were not correct (Lk 24:17-25).
- The Lord Jesus willingly accepted every slap in the face without complaining (cf. Mt 5:39).
- The Lord Jesus did not avenge Himself (Rom 12:19) but "committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Pet 2:23).
- The Lord Jesus is described as the one who was "reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not" (1 Peter 2:23).
